


A Matter of Loyalty

by scarletmanuka



Series: A Matter of Love [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nervous Sherlock, Sibling Incest, holmescest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 02:18:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10652898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka
Summary: Sherlock and Mycroft face their first major hurdle after the events ofA Matter of TrustIf you haven't read that, this might not make a lot of sense, plus it contains spoilers for the end of it :)





	A Matter of Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyGlinda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyGlinda/gifts).



Sherlock paced in front of Mycroft’s desk, his hands behind his back, his lip between his teeth. He glanced constantly at the door, waiting for it to open, but wishing it wouldn’t. He looked over at his brother, sitting calmly behind the desk, doing paperwork. He sighed heavily, expressing his agitation but the older man ignored him. He scowled at the lack of response and moved over to the window, his fingers drumming a constant rhythm on his leg. It was a glorious day outside, the first they’d had since the calendar had officially flipped over to spring. It wasn’t warm by any means but the sun was out and the sky was a vibrant shade of blue. Mycroft’s office overlooked a small park where government workers tended to eat their lunch, but at this time in the middle of the morning it was being appropriated mainly by tourists. A young couple had lain their jackets on the eternally damp grass and were using their backpacks as pillows, curled together and enjoying the sun. Sherlock wished he could be down there as well, lying with his head against Mycroft’s chest, freckled arms wrapped around him, with not a care in the world. Instead he was in here, waiting for the world to end…

He drew his eyes away from the scene below and once again took up his march around the room. By the time the day was over there would be a distinct trail left in the plush carpet - starting from the visitor chair, moving across to the potted plant, crossing in front of the door, circling the couch, and returning to the chair. He huffed out another discontented breath, eyeing Mycroft as he did so but still not getting a response.  “How can you be so calm?” he demanded, throwing his hands in the air.

Mycroft didn’t even look up from the report he was signing off on. “If you can convince me that pacing the room like a caged animal is more beneficial to me than finishing these reports so I can get home at a reasonable hour, then by all means, I shall join you.”

The younger brother came to a halt and threw himself into one of the empty chairs. His nervous energy still needed to escape and he jiggled his leg. He couldn’t deny that it made sense for his brother to get as much work completed now as possible. He was staying the night at Mycroft’s house and the earlier he got home, the more time they had together. “I just don’t understand how you can’t be worried,” he tried again.

Mycroft sighed and put aside the paperwork, raising his eyes to meet Sherlock’s. “I _am_ worried, brother mine. But I have faith that I know her well enough to predict her response.” 

“But what if she reacts badly?”

“I doubt she will, but if she does, then I will deal with it.”

“But what if-”

“Sherlock!” Mycroft interrupted him, holding a hand up to silence him. “Don’t go down the ‘what if’ path - you’ll only borrow trouble.”

“But, what-”

“What did I _just_ say?”

The detective pouted. “I’m just trying to be aware of every possible outcome.”

“I know you are, but you’ll get so worked up over it that you’ll give yourself a stomach ulcer. Just try and remain calm.”

He chewed some more on his lower lip. “Maybe...maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“How so?”

“It’s just a big risk - one that we don’t _have_ to take. Couldn’t we just leave it for now and deal with the fallout if she discovers the truth?”

Mycroft watched him steadily, his face giving nothing away. It made Sherlock even more nervous and his leg started bouncing even more vigorously. Eventually his brother rose to his feet and came around the desk. He cupped his cheek and held his gaze. “We’ve discussed this, brother mine. Having Anthea on board will make our lives exponentially easier. I trust her with my life, and even though this is much more important to me than that, I do trust her with this as well.”

He saw Mycroft’s eyes soften as he read the genuine fear in Sherlock’s eyes. “I just don’t want to risk what we have, Mycie. We’ve had to overcome so much...now that things are finally settling down do we really want to throw a spanner in the works?”

“We won’t be risking what we have, Sherlock because I will never allow anyone to take you away from me. If it goes wrong then the worst it will do is cause me complications at work. I have put a lot of thought into this and I would never risk doing so if it could possibly compromise our relationship.”

His brother’s words did little to assuage his doubts. After John’s reaction to discovering the true nature of their relationship, Sherlock was extremely hesitant to share the truth with anyone else. The sheer disgust at learning they were lovers as well as brothers was something that still caused Sherlock to wake in the middle of the night, gasping in dread. Despite all the issues he and John had had, he had still believed that his friend would be more accepting. It was only the desire to not throw away their entire history and risk never seeing Rosie again that had led Sherlock to decide to accept his sister’s offer of help. Even so, if he’d had more time to think on the matter, he may have even decided it better to remove John from his life entirely. The doctor discovering the truth during their kidnapping had been the final deciding factor. They couldn’t risk him exposing them to the world.

Having Eurus... _convince_ John to be accepting of them was not something they would be able to do again. It had worked wonderfully, but the strings Mycroft had had to pull to allow Eurus unfettered access to his flatmate in order to do what she did best meant it was a once off occurrence. They would not be able to play that card again. If Anthea reacted badly, it would be up to Mycroft to either use his own considerable powers of persuasion to talk her around, or use his considerable influence to discredit any accusations she made publicly.

Stinging pain pulled him from his thoughts and he found he’d bitten his lip so hard he was bleeding. Mycroft was still cradling his cheek and he swiped his thumb over Sherlock’s lip, wiping away a drop of blood. “Careful,” he murmured.

The younger brother grimaced and licked at his lip, the coppery tang hitting his taste buds. He then pressed a kiss to Mycroft’s palm before looking at the clock on the wall. “She’s late,” he grumbled.

Mycroft sighed. “No, she isn’t. I asked her to come once she had finished explaining the latest analysis of our drone tracking to Lady Smallwood. She’ll get here when she gets here.”

“Didn’t you tell her it’s important?”

“I told her I required her assistance with a personal matter.”

“You should have told her it was urgent.”

“Why? So she could come in here, guns blazing?”

Sherlock smirked at the visual. “I’d pay money to see that.”

“You should have said - I could have started a holiday fund.”

“It’s not my fault you lack vision, brother dearest. If you put your intelligence to better use we could be sunbathing in the Bahamas right now.”

“Who said I’d take _you_ with me?” Mycroft asked, deadpan. “I rather thought I’d go by myself, relax on the beach, have a few cocktails, have a break from the constant havoc that surrounds you...”

“You are _not_ to go anywhere by yourself in which you’ll be lounging around half naked!” Sherlock declared.

“Whyever not?”

“Because I will _not_ have other people leering at you while I’m not there to glare at them! You’re _mine_ , Mycie, and no one gets to see that but _me_.”

His brother chuckled and bent down to brush a kiss to his lips. “You’re adorable when you’re jealous,” he said, then he returned to his chair behind the desk and continued on with his paperwork.

“Am not,” the younger man grumbled, then seeing his brother was no longer paying attention to him, recommenced his anxious pacing.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door and then Anthea entered. “You wished to see me, sir?” she asked.

“Ah, yes, thank you, Anthea,” Mycroft said, rising from his seat. “Come and have a seat with us.” He led them all over to the couches and they sat, Sherlock and Mycroft on the bigger one and Anthea on the smaller one. “I wish to discuss a personal matter with you that is rather delicate in nature and therefore I hope you will treat it with the confidence it requires.”

“Of course, sir,” she said, a hint of reproach in her voice at his questioning of her honour.

He smiled indulgently. “I did not mean to imply that you have a loose tongue, Anthea. You are my most trusted confidant and I know that what I tell you here in this room remains in this room. The fact that I have said anything at all will hopefully impress upon you how important this matter is to me, and how much I am trusting you with it at all.”

“May I speak frankly, sir?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“People bandy about the word loyalty all the time, so much so that it has lost a little of its power. Please believe me when I say that my loyalty to you is absolute. Not to this office, or our employers, but to _you_. After Caracas, I’d hope you’d know that.” She gave him a significant look and Sherlock understood that whatever had occurred was well above his clearance level and she wouldn’t speak of it in front of him. Whatever the event was, it had obviously changed the very dynamic of the pair from beyond mere boss and personal assistant to something else. “You can ask of me anything, you can share with me anything, and you can expect of me anything.”

Mycroft swallowed thickly and Sherlock could see the power her words had had on his brother. “Thank you for that, Anthea. It means more to me than you can imagine.”

“I’m glad. Now what did you need to tell me?”

His eyes darted across to Sherlock and then he very deliberately reached across and took his brother’s hand. “I wished to advise you of the change that has occurred to the relationship I share with my brother.”

“Yes, I know,” she said, completely nonplussed. “I figured that out ages ago.”

“You did?” Mycroft asked, his calm demeanor slipping.

“How?” Sherlock demanded, knowing they’d been especially careful around the sharp eyed woman.

She grinned at them. “One thing I pride myself on is knowing my boss, Sherlock. No one else would have noticed the hint of a smile on his lips after one of your visits, or the way he was a tad less icy the following morning after leaving work on time.”

“But how did you know for sure it was Sherlock making me act like that?” Mycroft asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? You really have to ask?”

If he wasn’t so thrown himself, Sherlock would have laughed at the look of utter confusion on his brother’s face. “Erm...yes?”

Anthea did laugh, and it immediately broke the tension in the room. “Who else would it be?” she asked. “There’s no one out there who could even hope to keep your attention for longer than five minutes. The only type of person I could ever see you forming some form of attachment to is someone who can challenge you on an intellectual level. The only person I know of in your life who meets that criteria is Sherlock.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” her shocked boss asked.

“Because it’s none of my business,” she stated with a shrug.

Sherlock narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s not exactly true though, is it?”

Her expression was one of contrite innocence. “No?”

“When anyone with a security clearance as high as Mycroft’s becomes involved in an intimate relationship, their partner is subjected to a rather thorough security vetting.”

“Due to the work you often do for us, you’ve already _been_ vetted, Sherlock.”

“Don’t you have an obligation to report his breach of procedures to his superiors though?”

She gave him a dangerous look. “I have already explained where my loyalties lie. If you ever ask me a question like that again, you won’t be able to walk straight for a week.”

He held her gaze for a long moment before breaking into a grin. “It appears we have an ally, brother,” he told Mycroft.

“Indeed it would.” The older man gave his assistant a grateful look. “I can’t express just how much this means to me, Anthea,” he said again.

“You don’t have to, sir. You are an exceptional man and deserve to be happy. It doesn’t matter who it is who makes you happy. I will support you however I can.” She smiled brightly at them. “Now, was there anything we need to discuss that is pertinent to national security? Or am I free to get back to matters that are?”

Mycroft shook his head. “No, that was all.”

“Excellent.” She stood and turned for the door. “Remember you have a video conference at eleven.”

“Thank you.” The door closed and both brothers let out big sighs of relief. “That went better than I ever expected,” Mycroft admitted.

Feeling rather giddy, Sherlock threw himself into Mycroft’s arms, attempting to kiss him but failing due to the grin he couldn’t keep off his face. Mycroft’s arms snaked around his waist and held him close, kissing his cheek. “I suppose I should bugger off and let you get back to work,” he murmured.

“Mmmm, the quicker I get through my work, the quicker I’ll be home to you tonight.”

“Then I shall take my leave.” Sherlock kissed him properly and then clambered off his lap. “Enjoy the rest of your day, brother mine.”

“And you. Are you off to the Yard?”

“Yes, Lestrade needs me to look over some witness statements on the Johnston case from a few months back. Nothing that will keep me long.”

“Well, try not to give the lovely DI an aneurysm.”

“I’ll make sure Lestrade lives to give me cases another day. See you tonight.

“Goodbye, Sherlock.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
